Tom & Jerry. Have you been disturbed or distressed?

[Tom Photiou]

Thanks for the replies, (so far), my own thoughts are , no i have never been, nor ever will be upset or distressed/disturbed by a T&J cartoon. (or any other cartoon)
As Mark Mander said, you just take it for what it is. These cartoons are about a mouse and a Cat. The sound of the smacks and whollops made me laugh as much as the expressions on Toms face when the frying pan or bat hit, before his teeth fell out or his face broke into pieces.
Simple slap stick humour, like L&H, are people offended in Pardon us, aka Jailbirds, when Stan & ollie cover there faces to work on the cotton field when they escape jail? Moving into modern times, very much Home Alone style comedy, good old slapstick.
Other things that are constantly pointed out by the few are nonsense, it's a small group who use the innocence of cartoons to poison the minds of everyone else.
While i am aware that attitudes change, i think we are all entitled to enjoy what WE like as individuals without others attempting to censor us or tell this is wrong, thats wrong. You dont like it, dont watch it, but dont keep on at everyone else, leave people to be free to enjoy these cartoons unhindered.
I honestly cant think of anything better to put a smile on the face of kids and adults alike the way T&J do. I cant say i have ever given thought to Jerry in his mouse Friday, it cannot get any more ridiculous than this.

Some years ago we visited Florida, in one of theme parks there artists who, for $25 would draw a caricature of anyone willing to pay. I decided to have my three children drawn, they are nothing more than exaggerated cartoon type drawings of my children's faces, brilliantly done and fun, yet, Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs are equally exaggerated caricatures, but this one is deemed no longer suitable for todays cotton cuddled audiences.

Should i be offended by the way my kids were drawn with big ears and big teeth? No, no more than anyone should be upset at the voice on a T&J cartoon, honestly, warnings are not necessary.

[Dominique De Bast]

CAT WATCHING TOM AND JERRY - YouTube

[Antoine Orsero]

I own the TOM and JERRY edited by Derann in super8 and I enjoy it. As are the TEX AVERY. It is ridiculous to censor a cartoon. In a cartoon there is never death!

[Richard C. Patchett]

Greetings
As a kid I always watched T&J cartoons
So the answer no to disturbed or distressed

[Terry Sills]

Absolutely love Tom & Jerry and most other cartoons. I also loved The Benny Hill show, which ‘modern thinkers’ put a stop to. Censorship should be censored.😜

[Tom Photiou]

Thanks again for the replies to this thread, I agree with all, how a cartoon could ever offend or upset anyone is beyond me, too many people seem to have latched onto the weird brigade of people who seem to go out of their way to find something new to add to the forbidden list of things to laugh at.
It is refreshing to actually see around me that many of the snowflakes are actually not quite what you think. There are a huge majority who think the same way as normal people and actually love the old T&J cartoons. I think there may be a new generation who are discovering these classics.
I always think it weird that people who are this easily offended will actually watch it so they know what to moan about.

[Osi Osgood]

I have mused recently, that I think that, perhaps, the greatest gift, the greatest invention of the last century, is the animated cartoon, who's sole reason for it's existence, is to make people laugh, to make people feel good, and, as anyone should know, laughter is incredibly good medicine for anyone. Think about it, nearly everything else, invented in the last century, had been used to kill or otherwise, beyond medicinal discoveries, and even those have been twisted at times, into weapons, but cartoons? They just exist to bring joy!

[Tom Photiou]

Exactly, the characters are funny, what they do to one another is funny and the caricature of the the way the characters look AND Sound are funny as they are meant to be. As the meaning of the word caricature is described,
"a picture, description, or imitation of a person in which certain striking characteristics are exaggerated in order to create a comic or grotesque effect".
So if this upsets people, wow, do they to get a life.

[Brian Fretwell]

I read in a book about the history of the TV show Dr Who that before it started they showed a group of children (10 and 13 year olds) a film to what the adults thought was a terrifying scene of prehistoric monster trying to kill one another, one ten year old commented "Oh, they're models".

That says it all really.

[Tom Photiou]

This is the problem Brian, its the adults who appear to poison the kids into a way of thinking. Just like what we are aeeing all around us. I laugh now when i look at the back of a dvd for all audiences and it says, contains menance'. What the hell is that suppose to mean?
i must look at the back of a TandJ DDVD to see what it states.

[Tom Photiou]

I did come across a comment today which i thought was relevant to this subject, someone asked me, "has anyone asked for Al Jolson to be banned, after all, he blacks himself up like Jerry does in His mouse Friday"?
Reading about how sensitive people have become, or should i say, how brainwashed people have become, i cant think of a time where this has ever come up.
Anyone else heard for Al Jolson to be banned? Cant say i have ever seen it on TV in the last decade.

[Mark Mander]

Not heard that one Tom about Al Jolson but the black and white minstrel show was a similar act and that has been criticised , it was a very popular show at the time and record sales also did well, pretty much an Al Jolson act too.

I did have an incident at a film show whilst showing Carry On Up The Kyber amongst others, I had a very varied multi race audience and all seemed to be enjoying the films when I got a message in my ear from the owner of the venue that the film should not be shown due to some actors blacking up, I had actually thought about the films before hand as I was going to show Carry On Camping but with the Barbra Windsor scene I didn't think it was appropriate so chose Kyber instead, I kept the film going and the audience kept watching and at the end got some lovely comments and later an email saying how everyone enjoyed the show, I don't think the owner should have been concerned, Mark

[Stuart Reid]

Would I show a Tom and Jerry print to a young audience? Many of them, yes. Would I show a print where a character ends up in blackface, or would I show Coal Black or another cartoon with 'lazy' outdated stereotypes? Mmmm maybe not. But then, I also don't want to watch these stereotypes either, it makes me feel uncomfortable in the same way I'm uncomfortable with films that depict any variant of LGBTQ or various faiths or someone's skin colour in a mocking way.

[Tom Photiou]

Mark, again, i feel that we are all loosing the ability to have a joke at ones self. This is where its all going crazy,

Stuart, thanks for the reply, again, i may be reading this wrong, but do you feel that if every one could just take a step back and just take these things for what they are, then we could all learn to take a joke or a bit of fun again. I do agree that sometimes, people/films/TV goes over the top and show the aggressive side of things. One you mentioned, Coal Black, was of course made at a time it was acceptable, and the there is also some war propaganda in there, the truck with Murder Inc on the side with the other lines which come up. As it happens, i showed this to my three children when they were a bit older. I talked them through it first. The reaction was as i expected. My three laughed at it, once the seven dwarves came on.
At the end, they all said, "yeah i guess i can see why its banned now but it is funny". I asked what they thought was funny, they all said the voices and exaggerations of the characters were hilarious.
I really think its important to just laugh at something that makes a bit of fun. Trying to censor everything, in my view, will have an opposite effect.

Mark, "I did have an incident at a film show whilst showing Carry On Up The Kyber amongst others, I had a very varied multi race audience and all seemed to be enjoying the films when I got a message in my ear from the owner of the venue that the film should not be shown due to some actors blacking up".

This whole thing about the blacking up bemuses me, i really cant see why it would offend, Didn't Eddy Murphy white up with make up to play a white guy in Coming to America? Or is that OK?
Its OK for someone to say "ask a coloured person", so guess what, today i did, we have a lovely guy from Nigeria who works with us who actually uses the N word to his fellow workers, the rest of us would be sacked for doing so, today i got onto this subject of T&J and Al Jolson and he told me "it seems to be you lot, (Caucasian people) who are offended, you lot who seem to be telling one another and everyone else what offends US". He went on to tell me (and a few others in the conversation) that he cant think of anything funnier than Tom & Jerry. I directed him toward His mouse Friday but he couldn't remember it, he got it up on youtube and laughed out loud. He also expressed a concern as to why anyone would be offend by it, he called it an exaggeration of character, and this is what i said earlier. Bernard Manning once said, "a joke is a joke, you shouldn't take it serious, there's plenty of other things in the world to be upset about".
I myself grew up with many things to be made out of my surname and where my Father came from, what did i do about it? I had a laugh with them.
It'l be interesting to see if any of the classic T&J cartoons will ever be banned, if they are, i bet it'l be the BBC who does it first with there box ticking crew.

Thank goodness we have all these gems on super 8 and 16mm.

[Mark Mander]

I think His Mouse Friday is early 1950's so if you were stuck on an island populated by a tribe then wouldn't they actually look like Jerry's portrayal of a tribesmen,? I don't think it's of bad taste or racist but accurate at the time of making the cartoon, there was cannibals at that time too?? I really don't think about it too much, I played His Mouse Friday 15 years ago at the school shows I used to do and no one said a word, the kids just saw it as a cat chasing a mouse which is what it is, Mark